December 2005 2001 International Gold Medal Chorus XXIII NUMBER 6

In this issue . Editorial Comment...page 2 What s the Difference?...page 3 Would You Believe?...page 4 Are there any women?...page 5 Recruiting Tip #2...page 6

Tis the Season kicks off the Holiday Season

The always anticipated, ever appreciated Hardrock, Coco and Joe routine brought a rousing round of applause from the audience!

Nicholson Photo

After a performance filled with old favorites and new arrange-

ments the audience was rewarded with the New Tradition s version

of the 12 Days of Christmas! Nicholson Photo

December 2005

Page 2 Harmony Gazette

The Gazette Bulletin of The New Tradition Chorus

Editorial Goal

By means of professional reporting, articles, photos, features, letters, and editorials, provide information about the Chorus to our chapter, the Society and the community, which will assist our members in achieving our goals and objectives.

The New Tradition Chorus Northbrook Chapter Illinois District

Meets every Monday at 7:30 P.M.

at the Christian Heritage Academy 315 Waukegan Road, Northfield, Illinois

MUSICAL DIRECTOR Jay Giallombardo

Music Team: J.D. Rich, VP-Music

Jay Giallombardo, Music Director Duane Fenn & Brian Milnikel, Assistant Directors

Duane Fenn, Chapter Coach Bob Tempas, Tenor Section Ldr.

Pat Brady, Admin Tenor Section Ldr. Ralph Brooks, Lead Section Ldr.

Dennis Barto, Admin Lead Section Ldr. Dick Kingdon, Baritone Section Ldr.

Ben Ahring, Admin. Baritone Section Ldr. Duane Fenn, Bass Section Leader

Bob Haselsteiner & David Lee, Admin. Bass Section Ldrs. Ben Ahring, Music Librarian

Duane Fenn, Learning Tape Prod. Barry Cain, Presentation Team Leader

The HARMONY GAZETTE is published by and for the New Tradition Chorus, Northbrook, Illinois Chapter of Barbershop Harmony Society, an educational and non-profit society.

Articles without by-lines are written by the editors. Contributions are appreciated and will be credited to the author. All submissions will be edited for clarity and for reasons of space.

Editor: Don Meseth Assistant Editor: Jennifer Sievers

PO Box 2235 Northbrook, IL 60065

gazette@newtradition.org Phone: 630-539-1544

Photographers: Nancy & Tom Nicholson

Past Editors Richard Nelson and Michele Arnette were Illinois Bulletin Editor of the year

1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 International BETY:Second place 2003, Third place 1999, 2000 - Fourth place 2001

THE SOCIETY VISION STATEMENT The Society is to be a widely recognized ever-growing, singing fraternity of men, drawn together by their love of the four-part a capella, close-harmony style of music known as barbershop whose mission is to perpetuate that style by sharing it and their love for it with people of all ages throughout the world; and to be a leader in the cause of preserving and encouraging vocal music, in our education systems and in our communities, as a lifelong recreational activity and an essential element in one s cultural well-being.

President John Trumbull Executive Vice President Stan Sakalowski Board Member-at-Large Barry Cain Chapter Development Vice President Ralph Brooks Chorus Manager Brian Milnikel Immediate Past President Stan Hadley Marketing & PR Vice Pres. Max Kieba Music Vice President J.D. Rich Operations Vice President Chuck Feuillan Secretary Mike Saeger Treasurer Rich Nelson

Editor ial Comment

Gentlemen and Ladies of the Sweet Tradition

We are fast approaching the end of the holiday season for 2005. Let s get our vocal cords pampered with tender loving care for the month of December. We have NINE (count 'em, 9) performances to put on for the month. Not only do we present some great holiday music, but also add sub-stantially to our coffers for the rest of the year. One of my customers who ordered a nice block of tickets told me that, for him and his family and friends, the holiday season really starts with the first weekend in Decem-ber, and performances by the New Tradition Chorus. Don't forget the regular rehearsals, when we will get the music for the Interna-tional in July, and the rest of the Disney music for our forthcoming CD. It will be a busy month! Can we do it? You bet we can! We have a "three-some" going. The White Sox, the Bears, and the New Tradition.

Don Meseth Editor

Submissions for the next issue of the Harmony Gazette are due by

Jan. 13, 2006. Please submit your

pictures and articles!

December 2005

Page 3 Harmony Gazette

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A "D" AND A "T"? (NOT MUCH) By David Jones, member New Tradition Chorus

Did you know that there are four words pro-nounced exactly the same way, but only two of which have similar meanings? For example, the furnace separates the gold from the dross, that the precious metal may be graven into the coveted medal. And, in reflecting on our re-cent performances, we were aroused to do our very best. WE were gentlemen of brave met-tle, with fortitude, resilience, resolution and firm determination to achieve the desired ends...we were FOCUSED!

To cite one of our favorite coaching enthusi-asts, "Everything was wonderful, BUT..." If we become complacent, or become busybod-ies, prying or interfering in others' affairs, we are not in good taste, and are prone to meddle, which prevents us from being "on our mettle."

Enrique Signoret and Dennis Murray Horsey and Joe were quite a team on stage and at the CD Table!

Anderson Photos

Emcees Barry Cain and John Trumbull kept the audience in stitches discussing every-thing from tis to poinsettias and cats to

yarmulkas! Nicholson Photo

December 2005

Page 4 Harmony Gazette

Sweet Traditions New Tradition Women s Auxiliary

Join us! Date: 3rd Monday of each month Time 7:30 p.m. Place: Christian Heritage Academy Program: TBA

The 2005 Sweet Traditions Board

Nancy Nicholson, President 262-886-5486 Merrill Seal, Vice President 847-229-1868 Kay Schuetz, Secretary 630-325-0214 Marlene Anderson, Treasurer 708-422-0918 Marion Meseth, Membership 847-827-6530 Roxanne Barto, Sunshine 847-564-0399

Mindy Lazor, Immd. Past President 847-257-1000

Please call anyone on the Sweet Traditions board if you have questions, suggestions, or wish to volunteer.

Would you believe ? By President John Trumbull

If someone had told you, when you were in high school, that some day you would be an integral part of one of the greatest men s choruses on the planet -- would you have

believed it?

If someone had told you that you would find time, in your busy schedule, to invest three-plus hours a week singing would you have believed it?

If someone had told you that you would perform, for an audience, thirty songs, a cappella, from memory, without missing a beat would you have believed it?

If someone had told you that you would sing in four Holiday Shows, and that your performance would be so moving that the audience would feel compelled to give you a standing ovation, again and again

would you have believed it?

If someone had told you that, some day, you would share the stage with a guy named Josh Leath, on his knees, playing an electric guitar with a dead fish

would you have believed it? (Okay, so, me nei-ther.)

And yet, it s all true! It has all come to be. All of your hard work all of the time you invested it paid off. The rehearsals came and went, the tickets were sold, and the seats were filled with your friends and family. And they loved it every minute of it. And, so did you.

Remember those moments. Remember that feel-ing of elation the deafening applause, the huge grin on your face, and that satisfied exhaustion that you felt as the curtain closed.

These times are hard to come by hard-won. But they are the moments that champions make hap-pen. I could not have been more proud of the effort put forth by every member of this chorus, and the Sweet Traditions, on making our Holiday Shows a phenomenal success.

Were we worried? Oh, yeah. Was the dress re-hearsal just scary enough? Uh huh. But, as I al-ways say: Fear of public embarrassment is a great motivator! And so, you mastered the music, and threw your heart into every note of every song, in every show. Bravo!

The audience was moved, as were we, the men of The New Tradition Chorus. It goes by so fast, but, ya know what?!? We get to do it again and again. What an honor it would be for most people to receive such applause just once in a lifetime! And yet, you get to do it, repeatedly: at the Holiday Shows, at our December sing-outs, at rehearsals and sectionals and retreats, at our Spring Shows, and on the International Contest stage in Indianapo-lis. And after that, there s well, the list goes on and on.

You have been blessed with a great honor, being an important part of The New Tradition. And, we have been blessed with you.

If someone had told me that I would have the honor of singing with you

would I have believed it?

Let s do this again, and soon!

December 2005

Page 5 Harmony Gazette

Northbrook Chapter Quartets * Denotes Chapter Members

Boom Town Tenor: Craig Hall Lead: Chris Kirkham Bari: Pat Henders Bass: Jerry Metzo* (847) 354-2823

The Chi-Tones Tenor: Noah Miller* Lead: Larry Emery* (815) 477-3037 Bari: Mike Schnitzler* Bass: Andy Smith*

Chicago Sound Tenor: Peter Fink* Lead: Dennis Barto* Bari: Bill Donahue* Bass: Walt Parus* (847) 253-7197

Chordiac Arrest Tenor: Marty Jahnel* Lead: Dick Johnson* (815) 838-1874 Bari: Mike Bagby* Bass: Earl Meseth*

Father 'N Son Reunion Tenor: Paul McCracken* Lead: Lawrence Dohogne (618) 452-7196 Bari: Steven McCracken* Bass: Larry Dohogne

Gadzooks Tenor: OPEN Lead: John Cain* Bari: Bob Scheible* (312) 255-1344 Bass: Bill Ward*

Geneva Tenor: Gareth Cole Lead: Wayne Weiser Bari: Steve Schoultz* (312) 558-8642 Bass: Paul Zeien

Hospitality Tenor: Pat Brady* Lead: George Carlson* Bari: Keith Mockenhaupt Bass: Joseph Schlesinger*

(847) 328-0921

Lakeside Edition Tenor: Bob Tempas* (630) 887-8399 Lead: George Harper Bari: Paul Saeger* Bass: Duane Fenn*

Skyline Tenor: Tim Carter* Lead: Dan Starr (630) 483-0418 Bari: Mark Betczynski Bass: Doug Smith*

Take 2 Tenor: Max Kieba* (312) 656-7469 Lead: Mike Woods* Bari: Peter Harrison* Bass: Dave Brady*

Talismen Tenor: Gene Woolcott Lead: Ralph Brooks* Bari: Dick Kingdon* (847) 934-1171 Bass: Ed Chapman

Are there any women in your chorus?

By Max Kieba, VP of Marketing & PR

I am often asked this question when promoting the chorus to others. The answer is quickly No , and I explain a bit more

about our chapter, the Barbershop Harmony Soci-ety, and also mention there are women s versions of the BHS, namely Sweet Adelines International and Harmony, Inc.

Thinking about the question more, though, I realize the answer needs further follow-up. We certainly do have women in our chorus. They are not official members that can compete with us in contest, but they are vital to our chapter s existence. They are the Sweet Traditions, our women s auxiliary group consisting of our wives, mothers, significant others, and even, in some cases, someone that knew or was related to a dear member who is no longer with us. Especially around show time when we re on the stage, they support us by doing things like:

Managing the ushers

Selling baked goods, crafts, and raffle prizes

Staffing the ticket booth, will call and CD tables

And much more.

The Sweet Traditions often donate their income back to the chorus to help us purchase much-needed items throughout the year. They also sup-port us in our District and International contests by helping to put on make-up or making that one last adjustment to a costume right before we go on stage.

At our shows we usually acknowledge some of the stars, like the soloists, quartets, assistant directors, and director. However, we sometimes forget to ac-knowledge the Sweet Traditions for all their support and hard work. Maybe it s done by accident be-cause those operations run so smoothly, but it cer-tainly isn t done intentionally. They are stars of the show.

For those times when we forgot, I d like to take this opportunity to thank the Sweet Traditions for every-thing they ve done for us this year. For that matter, I d like to thank all of our loved ones for supporting us simply by understanding when we have to be away from home for our weekly rehearsals, meet-ings, and performances.

Maurine, Roxana and Mary Lou did a great job of selling New Tradition CDs to concert goers throughout the weekend!!

Anderson Photo

December 2005

Page 6 Harmony Gazette

28 Recruiting Tips By Ev Nau

Tip # 2 Recruiting idea #2

This one comes from Marv Spellman of Kearney, Nebraska. Marv has brought in more than 90 members during his career. Some of his thoughts include: "Kearney is located in the center of the USA from east to west. This is how we chose our cho-rus name (1733 Chorus) as it s 1733 miles to San Francisco and 1733 miles to Boston. Kearney has a population of approximately 23,000 and we have six surrounding towns with each less than 2,000 people. So, totally we have less than 40,000 . . . so we don t have a lot of people to recruit. There are 12 chapters in Nebraska and the Kearney Chapter is No. 3 in membership. We have more members than Omaha with approximately one million, and we re also bigger than Lincoln with 250,000 population.

Our chapter was 25 years old last June and I have signed up 90 members and I m working on three more before the end of the year. When I reach 100 man-of-notes I m gonna hang up re-cruiting. I ll never catch up with Jerry Orloff. But he has a lot more population to work with. Here are a few suggestions that I use. First of all, you cannot sign up friends or relations, so that leaves total strangers to go after. I did not know any of my 90 members or what they looked like. All of my invitations are written. I made up a special letter that I send out and I m enclos-ing a sample (note: he did . . and it s a corker!). My chorus is great as they give me all the post-age and stationery that I need. I send out about 20 to 25 invitations per month. I tell each pro-spective member that each Monday night is a special guest night and they don t know the dif-ference. I ve been told several times that I m a "persistent bastard."

Here s how I got one member: I was at a Saturday Mass and I heard a guy singing behind me a couple of rows back. When Mass was out, I followed him to his car - I wrote down the license number of his car - called the court house and gave them the number and they told me his name and address. I wrote him a letter to invite him to be my guest. Six weeks went by and I heard nothing. Then one Monday night before rehearsal, he called and wanted to come to see what barbershopping was all about. I signed him up. Two years later he was our chapter president and the following year our show chairman.

I watch for newcomers in church bulletins and the newspapers. I also check on who got pro-moted, divorced and married . . . and I send them an invitation. The whole secret is you ve got to ask everyone to be your guest. They are out there waiting to be asked."

(note: Thanks, Marv. Persistence certainly does pay off. How many more chapter presidents can each of us find using the "stalking" method? For copies of Marv s recruiting piece and his homespun method, just let me know. It may not work for everyone, but . . . it may work for you! And by the way, can your chapter afford a little postage and stationery to fund a guy that can write to people randomly? If Marv Spellman can find 90 members in 25 years in an area of 40,000 people, what can your best recruiter do?)

December 2005

Page 7 Harmony Gazette

access the web

New Tradition Chorus: www.newtradition.org Barbershop Harmony Society: www.barbershop.org Illinois District: www.harmonize.ws/Ill/

Barbershop Harmony Chicagoland: www.bbs.singer.as Chordiac Arrest: www.chordiacarrest.com Hospitality: www.harmonize.ws/hospitality Lakeside Edition: www.lakesideedition.com Skyline: www.harmonize.ws/skyline Take 2: www.take2quartet.com

Board meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month at the home of Immediate Past President Stan

Hadley at 7:30 P.M. Members are encouraged to attend.

New Tradition s Section Leaders

Duane Fenn Bass Section

Dick Kingdon Baritone Section

Ralph Brooks Lead Section

Bob Tempas Tenor Section

NT s VLQ, Noteworthy, singing Carol of the Bells

It s good to be King! Schumacher Photo

Operations VP Chuck Feuillan

Immed. Past Pres. Stan Hadley

Secretary Mike Saeger

Member-at-Large Barry Cain

President John Trumbull

Chapter Dev. VP Ralph Brooks

Executive VP Stan Sakalowski

THE HARMONY GAZETTE Northbrook Chapter

Barbershop Harmony Society Editor: Don Meseth

Assistant Editor: Jennifer Sievers PO Box 2235

Northbrook, IL 60065 gazette@newtradition.org

630-539-1544

International Gold Medalist - 2001 International Silver Medalist

1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000

Chorus Manager Brian Milnikel

Music VP J.D. Rich

CALENDAR OF EVENTS (other than regular Monday night meetings)

December 21 Glenview Country Club Performance

December 22 Glenview Country Club Performance

December 23 Glenview Country Club Performance

Annual Chapter Dinner January 7 and

Installation of Officers

VP PR & Marketing Max Kieba

Treasurer Rich Nelson